Well, this is odd. New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., while announcing that he had every intention of voting for S.2230, the draconian anti-gun “Democratic bill,” chided his fellow Democrats with a simple admonition: “It will not make a difference in the committing of crimes.”

“I assure you, nothing’s gonna change. We have lost respect for life, we have no respect and fear of God,” Diaz told the senate. “Not until we go back to those standards, nothing’s gonna control crime.”

“It’s the mind. It’s not the weapon, it’s not the revolver, it’s not the rifle. It’s the mind,” Diaz said as he concluded his remarks.

Diaz, who is pro-life and anti-gay marriage, has clashed with his party bosses before. But what I find particularly interesting about this incident is that it illustrates the power the anti-gun lobby holds over the Democrats. While the media incessantly focuses on the big bad NRA, and the “gun lobby’s” mighty grip on the GOP, few in the media…well, probably none in the “mainstream” media…question or explore the power of the anti-gun lobby within the Dems.

But here you have it. A Dem voting for an anti gun bill, not only knowing that it will make no difference regarding crime, but believing, as many conservatives do, that the problems lie not with the weapon, but with the character and the mind of the person holding it.

Gosh, it would be great if the New York press examined how the Dems and the anti-gun lobby wrangled that vote out of Senator Diaz. And it would be great if I were six-foot-five. Neither is about to happen any time soon.

David Stein is the founder and chair of the Republican Party Animals, a conservative organization that has hosted events with Larry Elder, Michael Reagan, Frank Gaffney, Rep. Mike Kelly, Rep. Thad McCotter, Bill Whittle, and others.

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